Posts Tagged ‘fishing’

Fragments of unwritten country songs seem to fall into my lap. Most of the time I end up saving them as-is, going no further than to marvel at their spirit, but once in a while I can squeeze an entire verse out of a sentence that strikes me as worthy. It’s amazing how often the people around me talk in country song language. Here are a few examples:

Pat was telling us about one Christmas in Vermont when a neighbor struck and killed a deer near her house. He came to the door and asked Pat’s husband to come help with the dressing of the meat. Pat described this to her daughter, who had called just before leaving to travel home for the holiday. Her daughter said, “Let me get this straight. We’re having roadkill for Christmas.”

This very morning Pat came to work with a picture of a creature she had passed on her way to her car. In a parking lot. In town. “Look what was in the parking lot!” she said, passing her phone for us to see. “I think I have a crawdad near my house.” You get a line, I’ll get a pole, honey.

Neighbors are always a rich source of material. Talat described one of her former neighbors who led a very independent life, but who did have a sometimes relationship with a gentleman of means. “They take nice vacations together, cruises….” She shrugged. “Well, he’s got the money, and she’s got the time.”

It’s a match made in heavenLike mojitos: rum and lime.He’s got the money, honey;She’s got the time.

(Now that I think about it, “a sometimes relationship with a gentleman of means” has rather a nice lilt to it, too.)

This spring, Jeanne helped plan and execute a lecture and small reception that featured Diane Rehm. Later, I asked her via email, “Hey, did you get to actually meet Diane Rehm?”

She responded right away. “YES!!!! She is tiny and pretty and wore stiletto heels. She held my hand while she drank champagne. Lovely.”

She held my hand while she drank champagneAnd my heart whirled up toward the skyI might have been holding a bird in my handAnd I prayed that it would not fly.

I prayed that it would not fly awayI prayed that it would not fly,I held her hand while she drank champagneAnd prayed that she would not fly.

Lovely, indeed. Don’t you agree? You don’t have to.

Julie, too, is often involved with special events. She recently managed one that involved lunch at Point A followed by a short bus ride to Point B for a tour of a new building, after which the bus would bring everyone back to Point A. One of the guests arrived terribly late and asked that her lunch be packed in a to-go box so she could take it along. Sadly, she left the box on the bus while taking the tour, during which time the bus driver determined that he had a spot of engine trouble. He drove back to the garage and traded to a better bus to complete the trip. A minor fuss ensued when, upon getting back on the bus, the hungry guest discovered that the boxed lunch was gone. Julie shook her head. “She left her lunch on a broken-down bus!” she said.

“She Left Her Lunch on a Broken-down Bus (and the Sandwich Was Made of Ham)”

I haven’t been able to get further than a title for that one, but isn’t it a fine title?

Finally, we were enjoying a little family dinner with my nephew, recently returned from a semester abroad. We had Hursey’s barbecue and chicken with the appropriate sides, supplemented with some items from my parents’ fridge. Daddy set out a dish of dill pickles and jalapeno pickles. As we finished eating, he asked if anyone wanted the last of the jalapenos.

My sister said, “I don’t want to take your last one.”

Daddy said, “Oh, I’ve got more in the pantry. This the just the last of the ones that were in the refrigerator. I like my hot pickles cold.”

Daddy has opinions on the news;I don’t always share my Daddy’s views.Sometimes we come to disagreement,And our voices start to rise,That’s when Daddy turns the tideWith words both calm and wise.

He’ll tell me:I may not know everything or very much at all,The limits of my knowledge are not wide, nor are they tall;I don’t know where we’re headed, who is wrong, and who is right—But I know exactly what I like.

I like my iced tea good and sweet,I like my coffee strong and bold,I like red-eye gravy with my ham,And I like my hot pickles cold.

I have my own opinions on the news,And Daddy doesn’t always share my views.Now, I am seldom calm and only very rarely wise,But like my Daddy, I know what I like.

I like my coffee topped with cream,I like my green tea cold, with lime,I like to watch the nighttime sky,And I like to play around with rhyme.

Now Mama claims no interest in the news,And she prefers to not share all her views,But I’ve been watching Mama all my life,And I know pretty well what Mama likes.

Mama likes to sleep late when she can,She likes to win the family Scrabble prize,Mama likes Duke basketball a lot,And Mama likes to laugh until she cries.

We all like watching baseball in the spring,(The Braves are going to win the Series yet.)Sometimes we like to sit around and sing,And we like fishing every chance we get.

Well, yes, I did get carried away with that one. There are two lies in it: Daddy doesn’t drink coffee, and there are no known limits to his knowledge.

Do you ever come across naturally occurring country song fragments? Send them my way, and I’ll see what kind of mess I can make with them. You know that’s what I like.

She put my hair in pin curls. She volunteered in the library at my elementary school, where she made friends with the meanest boy in my class, a foul-tempered redhead named Danny. (Danny tickled her.) She taught my Sunday School class off and on over the years.

I’m pretty sure she was involved with my Brownie troop.

She made me taste everything on my plate at dinner and once chased me down the hall with a spoonful of tomato pudding. I fled to my bedroom closet, where I jumped into the large cardboard box of costumes—all of which Mama had made. There was the dress that served my sister one year when she had to be a pilgrim, and then Mama dyed it so I could play the title role in a fourth-grade production of Miss Louisa and the Outlaws. She even made me a pink tutu that served me well as a wishful ballerina who never could dance.

When I was in high school she made me two prom dresses and a suit I wore to homecoming my senior year. She worked in the concession stand at all the home football games.

We lost power during an ice storm one winter and went without heat or lights for nearly a week. Mama’s response was to make a candy called Fudge Melt-Aways over the fireplace, then set the pan of candy out on the back porch to chill. It was delicious.

She taught me that cooking sometimes turns out badly, and when it does the best way to handle it is to laugh.

She catered my wedding reception (except for the cake). She could have done the cake, too, if she’d felt like it. She made pound cakes, brownie trifle, and baked the best Christmas cookies ever.

She taught me to pay attention to my dreams by getting up in the morning and telling us about hers. She took food to an elderly neighbor on a regular basis, which taught me to stay connected to my neighbors, too.

She fished, grew African violets, tried out my pogo stick, and helped my father inoculate piglets on the back porch. Of course she dropped the hypodermic needle, which stuck into the top of her bare foot. She has never been fond of wearing shoes.

She read my library books, and we both despised Clyde in An American Tragedy. She pulled my attempts at poetry out of the trash can, smoothed out the wrinkles, and saved them.